Land Use Bylaws

MPS provides assistance to municipalities on a contract basis to prepare or review Land Use Bylaws. The Land Use Bylaw (LUB) is the key tool used to regulate and control the use and development of all land and buildings within a municipality. It is at the heart of the development permit approval process and all land use re-designation applications. Similarly to a MDP, a LUB is adopted by Council and can only be amended by Council. Both the adoption and amendment process involve public consultation to ensure that the community can provide feedback in the process and the decision.

The Land Use Bylaw is an important tool for implementing the policies of the Municipal Development Plan, Area Structure Plans, Outline Plans and other policy studies and reports. The Land Use Bylaw regulates the neighbourhoods and communities where you live and work, by determining the types of uses, the mix of housing types and densities, the location of shops and services as well as specific requirements such as parking, landscaping and building height. The Land Use Bylaw impacts everyone at some point and to varying degrees - from building a fence or deck, to starting a business. A Land Use Bylaw is a municipal bylaw which:

establishes regulations for private development on private land,

divides the municipality into districts,

prescribes permitted and discretionary uses for each district,

establishes the number of dwelling units permitted on a lot, and

establishes a method of making decisions on applications for development permits.

The Municipal Government Act stipulates that every municipality in Alberta, regardless of population, must have a Land Use Bylaw.